Descendants of signatories to historic Bunbury reconciliation agreement want Noongar stories told

It’s been two decades since Troy Bennell’s grandmother signed this important plaque. (ABC South West WA: Bridget McArthur)

Most of the plaques in Bunbury tell stories of early settler days, when the air was thick with the smell of seaweed and much of the area was covered in water.

But for Noongar guide Troy Bennell, it is a modest plaque from 1994 in the Big Swamp wetland reserve where he often starts his tours.

The 52-year-old said it marked an important moment in more recent history for the regional Western Australian town.

The plaque reads:

“The City of Bunbury acknowledges that Nyungars were the first people of this area and have survived Wadjela (non-Aboriginal) settlement for more than two centuries.

The arrival of Wadjelas brought massive changes to this land and to its Indigenous people.

For its part, the City of Bunbury acknowledges and grieves for the loss by the Indigenous people of their land, their children, their health and their lives.

We acknowledge the right of Nyungars to live according to their own values and customs, subject to law, and to mutually respect Nyungar special places.

The council supports Nyungars and Wadjelas working together towards a treaty or other instrument of reconciliation which promotes a greater understanding of Nyungar and Wadjela peoples’ history and culture in our community.

This council recognises the positive contribution made by Nyungars and looks forward to a future of mutual respect and harmony.”

At the bottom, in confident, slanting block letters, was the signature of Alice Bennell — Mr Bennell’s grandmother — one of six elders representing the Noongar community.

“I love seeing her name here because we remember watching Nan when she first signed her name coming out of TAFE,” Mr Bennell said.

“When we were little my Nana used to sign her name with an X, so to watch my Nan learn how to write her name, and now it’s on a rock.

“She was awesome. We have the word. The word is ‘Moorditj’. Moorditj means powerful, strong.”

Also imprinted on the plaque was the tight cursive handwriting of Dr Ern Manea, the council’s mayor at the time.

His son, Mark Manea, said it was a permanent symbol of a commitment to reconciliation that began decades earlier in the 1950s.

Dr Manea had been providing medical assistance to the large Noongar community out at Waterloo Camp, east of Bunbury.

“It was not considered au fait for Aboriginals to live in Bunbury. You could probably equate it a little bit to apartheid,” Mark Manea said.

“At that point, Mum and Dad adopted — not officially, but semi-adopted — a young Aboriginal boy.”

That boy was Syd Jackson, who became well-known as one of Carlton Football Club’s all-time greats.

“It was through the involvement with Syd that a lot of our family associations came about,” Mr Manea said.

Reconciling separate histories

Two decades since his dad enshrined the City of Bunbury’s commitment to reconciliation in plaque form, Mr Manea said he believed the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people had improved.

But he said more work was needed to educate people about the Noongar side of local history.

“What is known as the Battle of Pinjarra, for example, wasn’t the battle of Pinjarra. It was the massacre in Pinjarra,” Mr Manea said.

Following in his father’s footsteps, the 70-year-old worked for many years as a coordinator for the Middar Aboriginal Theatre group, helping bring Noongar stories to the rest of Australia and the world.

Mr Bennell, inspired by the activism of Nana Alice and many others in his family, joined the group as a performer.

He said it was travelling to other countries that made him realise Australia was behind when it came to the way its history was told.

“Every country I went to, they have bad history, but they talk about it and you could go on tours about it. You can go to museums about it,” Mr Bennell said.

“Here, we’re ashamed or we’re shy about it … but the stories are important, because we learn from them and learn how to be resilient.”

University of Western Australia Indigenous psychology expert Pat Dudgeon said sharing and discussing more First Nations stories must be at the heart of future reconciliation efforts.

“Particularly in your local areas, if you’re in a service or a program, make sure that you’ve got Aboriginal staff members or an Aboriginal Advisory Committee,” she said.

“Find out what the important dates are for Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander people and celebrate them.”

Mr Bennell said that was why he became a tour guide, to spread awareness of the culture to non-indigenous people, but also to Noongar people feeling adrift from their roots.

“We’re all trying to find our story now. There’s a lot of negative stories, positive stories, but I think we have to use all of them to see ourselves through.”